Pia Toscano Eliminated in ‘American Idol’ Shocker

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“American Idol” dolled out a shocker last night: Pia Toscano was eliminated.

Two of the season’s leading contenders, Toscano and Jacob Lusk, were in the bottom three along with bland Stefano Langone. Lusk was sent to safety first while the other two were left hugging and waiting for their fate. Langone seemed to “know” it was him but when Pia’s name was called he was shocked and frozen. Pia had to pull Stefano toward her for a hug.

She took the news that the classy young lady that she is, saying “I’m good” once Ryan Seacrest prompted her for feelings.

The judges, however, did not hold their tongues. As Pia’s name was called for elimination, cameras cut to Randy putting his head in his hands and mouthing “no, no!” Jennifer got emotional while saying, “I have no idea. I have no idea what just happened here. I’m shocked, I’m angry. I don’t even know what to say.”

“They’re wrong, I don’t know what happened with this,” a dumbfounded Steven Tyler added, as Jackson admitted that he never gets mad on the show and was officially steamed at Toscano’s elimination.

Though eliminated contestants haven’t been given the chance to sing their way off this year, Ryan Seacrest allowed Pia to sing one last time. She chose her cover of The Pretenders “I’ll Stand by You.” As the remaining eight watched their friend perform, they wiped their eyes and Pia broke into tears, too at the song’s end. The audience gave Pia a standing ovation for the beautiful job she’s done.

Perhaps sensing that one of the leading lights of the show had been dimmed and the audience might wane in the coming weeks, Seacrest ended the show with the plea: “We need you. Stay with us this season.”